South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela will turn 90 on July 18, but despite his retirement from the public eye five years ago, his age has never prevented him from being pushed back into the limelight.

Political, business and showbiz elite from around the world arrived in London to greet South Africa's long-imprisoned champion of anti-apartheid with a fund-raising concert on Friday, June 27.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former United States President Bill Clinton, talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, Academy Award winning actor Robert De Niro and former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan were among the stars joining Mandela in the British capital.

The Mandela birthday celebration will be capped with a concert at Hyde Park on Friday that will feature Annie Lennox, Queen, Razorlight, Leona Lewis and the Soweto Gospel Choir.

The proceeds from the concert will go to Mandela's 46664 Foundation that looks after people suffering from HIV in his beloved South Africa.

Mandela was imprisoned for a total of 27 years by a then predominantly white South African government until the abolition of apartheid in the country.

In a sweeping change of the political landscape in the wealthiest country in the African continent, Mandela was elected as the first black president of the country in 1994.

Mandela said before members of media that, though he may be retired, he still works for his suffering people and he wants to take advantage of his landmark birthday to raise funds for his charity work.

Mandela criticizes Robert Mugabe

Former South African President Nelson Mandela criticized Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, labeling him a "tragic failure of leadership." Mandela expressed his sadness over the political and economic chaos that now rocks South Africa's biggest neighbor, to its north-west.

The former anti-apartheid leader broke his silence while in London after hearing of accounts that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the scheduled next phase of the run-off presidential elections in Zimbabwe.

Mandela's statement is expected to put pressure on his successor, President Thabo Mbeki, to finally speak out against Mugabe.

The International Federation of Journalists in their executive meeting in Brussels on 1 of June 2008, decided to expel Force Ouvriere ( France) and Thailand with immediate effects. This came as a result of the lack of compliance of the two members regarding membership fees. In the same line it was an executive decision for Georgia to be warned. The Nigerian Union is also to be written regarding their debts

It was agreed to endorse the application of DJV in Germany for part exoneration of fees for 2008 with an undertaking to pay fees in full from 1 January 2009.  Another application from the Dominican Republics seeking an exoneration of 360 Euros was agreed.

The executive committee agreed to a proposal from the general Secretary to prepare a report on the development of the IFJ press card for the next meeting. He said it would be important to think of strengthening the security and to modernize the format in order to ensure bits place as the only credible international accreditation of journalists

On new membership, the EC committee admitted the The first Trade Union of public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company of Azerbaijan  as full member,Brundi Association of journalists, accepted as associated member, Afghan Independent journalists Association was also admitted as an associate member of the IFJ, the Rwanda Journalists association was also admitted as an associated member

There were rejections to an immediate admission of the Libyan Journalists Association into IFJ. The matter was deferred to the next meeting where a decision will be taken. The Nation Press union of Congo also falls under the same category.

The meeting ended and the next meeting will be hosted by French Union of journalists in Paris November 14-15 2008.

Today we see one of the biggest games in football history. The first ever all-English European Champions League final, contested by Manchester United and Chelsea.

Manchester United's journey to the final has been a very steady one, pulling out victory after victory. They are currently undefeated in the Champions League this season. They have come across a variety of top European teams such as Dynamo Kiev, AS Roma, Sporting Lisbon, Olympique Lyonnais and Barcelona - leaving them all defeated and lying in the dust.

On other hand, Chelsea's journey to the final has been anything but easy. They have been defeated this season, by Fenerbahce. They managed to turn that quarter final tie around at Stamford Bridge.Nevertheless, Chelsea have limped past Fenerbache, Schalke 04, Valencia, Rosenborg, Olympiakos and Liverpool and now face their nemesis.

So, both United and Chelsea have come through the season, one a rampaging Goliath and the other a brave David. But now they face each other tonight in Moscow and we ask who will, like Napoleon in 1812, depart with their tails between their legs?

The final will most certainly be more entertaining than their previous cup final meetings. But who will be the moring crow returning to England to celebrate on the top deck of a bus? Which team will be singing the blues? Will it be the Reds of Merseyside or the Blues of posh West London?

Alex Ferguson was born in Govan, Scotland on the last day of 1941 and since then has become one of the greatest football managers of all time.

He started his playing career at the age of 16 when he joined local team Queen's Park, he went onto score 20 goals in 31 games for the side but never really held down a first team place. He moved onto St. Johnstone but again struggled to cement a place and only stayed for four years. His most succesful time was at Dunfermline Athletic when he managed a healthy 66 goals in 88 appearances which led to a call from Scottish giants Rangers.

Ferguson is a life-long Rangers fan and was at the club for 2 years but his time there was a disaster as he was made a scapegoat for a loss in a domestic cup final. He moved on to Falkirk and then Ayr United before deciding to take up a managerial career.

Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager in British football history – winning 18 major trophies during his time in charge of the Reds. Yet despite almost two decades at the Old Trafford helm he remains focused on increasing that tally, bringing yet more silverware to Manchester United.

The Reds boss enjoyed a playing career north of the border that saw him take in spells with Queen's Park, St Johnstone, Dunfermline, Glasgow Rangers, Falkirk and Ayr United. But it is not for his playing of the game that Sir Alex was to become a success.

Following a spell out of the game he moved into coaching, taking up the role of manager of East Stirlingshire, St Mirren then Aberdeen. It was his time at Pittodrie where he earned his reputation as a top coach. He broke the Glasgow dominance of Scottish football to lead Aberdeen to three Scottish titles, four Scottish cups, one League Cup and one European Cup Winners’ Cup.

Following the sacking of Ron Atkinson as manager of Manchester United, the Old Trafford hierarchy moved quickly for his services. They got their man on 6 November 1986.

Ferguson inherited a dispirited team of underachievers who had consistently, to their supporters’discontent, failed to break Liverpool’s domination. Stuck in the bottom four of the Division One table, Ferguson immediately set about attempting to stave off the very real threat of relegation. Without resorting to the transfer market, he guided United up the table to and eleventh place finish.

By now it was clear to Ferguson that he faced a major job in turning the club around. United were an entertaining side but one that seemed unable to cope with the more physical aspects of League football. In his second season the Reds fared better finishing second behind Liverpool, but the position painted a false picture. The turning point came in the 1989/90 season.

Following a run of games in which the Reds were drawn away in every round, United picked up their first silverware of the Ferguson era. Lee Martin scoring the only goal in a final replay against Crystal Palace to in the FA Cup.

This first trophy opened the flood gates. The European Cup Winners’ Cup was won the following season in Rotterdam, Barcelona defeated 2-1 thanks to a brace from Mark Hughes. Then in 1991/02 the League Cup was added to United’s list of honours.

Sadly the title remained elusive. It was the Holy Grail to United fans, the 26 championships free years being exacerbated by Liverpool’s dominance of the domestic and European game.

In 1992/93 the long wait for the League championship came to an end. The Reds, inspired by £1m signing Eric Cantona, pipping Aston Villa in the final weeks of the season.

The shackles were broken: the double followed in 1993/94, the double-Double (with ‘kids’) in 1995/96, and another title in 1997. Finally United were matching off-field might with on-field success. Liverpool’s dominance was well and truly over.

Sir Alex’s greatest achievement came in 1998/99. No side before or since has achieved a treble haul of Premiership title, FA Cup and European Cup. On an unforgettable night in Barcelona his decision to throw on substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer assured history was made. The pair scoring injury-time goals to win the Champions League and complete the treble.

Ferguson was knighted following that success and some suggested he should retire, believing his desire would wane following the realisation of a dream. Not a bit of it. Another title followed in 1999/2000 and he made it three-in-row in 2000/01. His eighth Premiership duly arrived in 2002/03; his fourth FA Cup a year later came against Millwall in Cardiff.

The Reds had by now entered a period of rebuilding. The side of homegrown players he’d first put together in 1995/96 was now breaking up and he’d recruited new stars like Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, brought in to spark a new era of success.

The rebuilding paid off with victory in the Carling Cup in 2005/06 and a ninth Premiership trophy in 2006/07. And the success looks set to continue, with Sir Alex swooping for three players - FC Porto's Anderson, Sporting Lisbon's Nani and

Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves - in May 2007 to bolster an already strong side.

With the Premiership back at Old Trafford, the attention now will turn to Europe where Sir Alex hopes to win his second Champions League trophy in 2007/08.

CARE and Oxfam today said the international aid system not fit for purpose and called for fundamental changes in order to tackle the challenge of food price hikes and impending food crises in East and West Africa. The call comes at the end of a conference on how best the world can address global hunger attended by some 30 leading UN and aid agencies in Rome.

“Food riots have pushed global hunger onto the political agenda but the aid business will not be able to tackle global hunger while it remains stuck in the past, seeing food crises as one-off events and not tackling the underlining problem – chronic poverty. The world has become much better at sending in teams to save lives but it seems incapable of doing what is needed to prevent crises happening in the first place,” said Barbara Stocking, Oxfam GB’s Chief Executive.

“When governments fail to act early enough," said Dr. Robert Glasser, CARE International's Secretary General, "the costs of dealing with a crisis increase enormously, both in economic terms and in loss of life.  Television pictures of aid being flown out to the latest food crisis is not a triumph of compassion but a sign of failure to act soon enough.”

CARE and Oxfam warned that besides the impact of food price hikes there are also early signs of impending food shortages in East and West Africa. These potential disasters could be averted if the world takes immediate action.

In East Africa the March to May rainy season has been slow to start, triggering concern that another widespread humanitarian crisis might strike for the second time in less than three years. Although there has been some rain over the last week, CARE and Oxfam are particularly concerned about hunger striking the poorest in southern Somalia and the Somali Region of Ethiopia and in West Africa there are worrying warnings of increased hunger hot spots in Mauritania and Niger.

Acting earlier not only saves more lives but makes economic sense. In 2004 and 2005 early warnings alerted world donors that in West Africa, Niger needed aid to avert a famine. There was no immediate response,  and it was not until television cameras showed emaciated children dying that the world acted. The cost of the delay was high in human life and in economic terms. The UN estimated that acting earlier would have cost $1 a day to prevent a child suffering from malnutrition. Because of delay it cost $80 to save a malnourished child.

Another area of concern is the inefficiencies and high costs resulting from self-interest on the part of those delivering aid. Shipping surplus food aid thousands of miles provides a boon to shipping companies, but also increases the cost of delivering food anywhere from 50% to 100%.

"Food aid can and does save lives. But due to powerful interest groups and outdated policies, food aid generally arrives too late, is too expensive and, when it floods weak, local markets, puts local farmers out of business and consequently puts back chances of recovery after the famine has passed," said Stocking.

CARE and Oxfam are calling for more aid of the right kind in the right place at the right time. Specifically, the organizations want:

Appropriate aid delivered according to needs:
The nature of food insecurity and vulnerability needs to be better understood in order to design more appropriate responses.
Alternatives to emergency relief, including food aid, to be delivered when appropriate, for example cash for work and other cash transfer schemes. Often food is available during a food crisis. The issue is that it is too expensive for the hungry to buy it. Buying food aid locally can help stimulate the local economy and keep farmers in work.
Chronic and cyclical problems need to be addressed through social protection mechanisms, such as social insurance and assistance.

Support development of poor country governments’ capacity to respond to chronic crises:
National governments need to invest in the social protection of their citizens, implement ‘safety net’ programmes (cash for work schemes or targeted assistance to the vulnerable) for populations at risk of hunger, intervene before livelihoods collapse.
Donors need to commit resources to support the establishment of local response and safety net mechanisms, eg the donors backed ‘Productive Safety Net Programme’ ensuring predictable assistance to eight million people in Ethiopia.
Mechanisms allowing more effective monitoring and coordination of international aid against hunger need to be established within the UN system, and with NGOs.

Disaster risk reduction is a key factor in preventing future crises:
Many weather-related crises are cyclical and preparedness and risk reduction strategies can reduce the loss of valuable agricultural production, but this requires a substantial change in emphasis from donors, who will need to make an investment before public support has been mobilized by images of starvation.

On the recent food price crisis CARE AND Oxfam called for:
• Increase donor and national government investment in small-scale agriculture in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most African governments have failed to meet their 2003 promise to allocate at least a tenth of their spending to agriculture and they are now reaping the consequences. Countries such as Malawi and Zambia have shown the way, moving from dependence on food aid to become cereal exporters in recent years. Greater international support is needed. It is important that humanitarian organizations ensure that women can access the opportunities that are created.
• Large-scale growth in biofuels demand has pushed up food prices and so far there is little evidence that it is reducing overall carbon emissions. Natural carbon sinks such as rainforests and grasslands are being destroyed to make way for new biofuel plantations and biofuel crops are displacing food production. Countries driving biofuel demand need to monitor the impacts of their policies on global food security and provide financial support for affected countries. Mandatory targets need to be reassessed in terms of likely impact on emissions and negative social and environmental side effects in developing countries, including higher food prices, land grabs and labour rights abuses. Developing countries need to integrate their biofuel strategies with food security policies to address issues such as land allocation and crop use.
• Ensure financial services such as insurance and credit are available to poor farmers. In Thailand, for example, small producers are going to the wall because banks will not lend them money to manage between harvests.
• Allow space for national trade policies to manage food security and rural development and to support the poorest and most marginalized farmers to gain from current price rises.
• Recognize that climate change is going to exacerbate these problems, requiring urgent mitigation and adaptation response
• Eliminate trade-distorting export agricultural subsidies, export restrictions and price controls. This will correct distortions in world markets and pave the way towards a long-term solution to unstable food prices.

"There is clearly a lot that governments and aid agencies must do to tackle hunger, " said Jonathan Mitchell, CARE's emergency response director. "What emerged from this conference is that humanitarian and relief agencies are committed to new solutions. We now need aid agencies to be held accountable and for donor governments to get behind these changes."

OXFAM 

Private military and security companies operating in a country affected by armed conflict do not work in a law-free environment

At a three-day meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, which ended on 16 April, experts from 18 countries agreed that States and also companies and their employees have clear obligations under international humanitarian law when engaged in situations marked by armed conflict.

“States must strengthen control over private military and security companies through adequate regulations and other measures, and thus help protect the civilian population in conflict-affected areas,” said Philip Spoerri, director for international law at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The meeting of governmental and other experts was the third of its kind since the Swiss foreign ministry launched an initiative on such companies two years ago in cooperation with the ICRC. Among the countries represented were Afghanistan, Canada, China, France, Iraq, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Paul Seger, legal adviser to the Swiss foreign ministry, expressed his satisfaction over the progress made: “Because the discussions were highly constructive, we are hopeful that agreement will be reached by the end of this year on a document that reaffirms State obligations under international humanitarian law and recommends effective means of ensuring that they are fulfilled.”

The Swiss initiative aims at promoting greater respect for international humanitarian law and human rights among private military and security companies operating in countries affected by armed conflict. The discussions in Montreux focused on the humanitarian law obligations of the States primarily concerned – those that contract with private military and security companies, or on whose territory such companies operate or are based – and on measures to ensure that these obligations are met.

International Committee of the Red Cross 

GENEVA -- Scientists tell us that the evidence the Earth is warming is "unequivocal." Increases in global average air and sea temperature, ice melting and rising global sea levels all help us understand and prepare for the coming challenges. In addition to these observed changes, climate-sensitive impacts on human health are occurring today. They are attacking the pillars of public health. And they are providing a glimpse of the challenges public health will have to confront on a large scale, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan warned today on the occasion of World Health Day.

"The core concern is succinctly stated: climate change endangers human health," said Dr Chan. "The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events -- more storms, floods, droughts and heat waves -- will be abrupt and acutely felt. Both trends can affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: air, water, food, shelter and freedom from disease."

Human beings are already exposed to the effects of climate-sensitive diseases and these diseases today kill millions. They include malnutrition, which causes over 3.5 million deaths per year, diarrhoeal diseases, which kill over 1.8 million, and malaria, which kills almost 1 million.

Examples already provide us with images of the future:

• European heat wave, 2003: Estimates suggest that approximately 70 000 more people died in that summer than would have been expected.
• Rift Valley fever in Africa: Major outbreaks are usually associated with rains, which are expected to become more frequent as the climate changes.
• Hurricane Katrina, 2005: More than 1 800 people died and thousands more were displaced. Additionally, health facilities throughout the region were destroyed critically affecting health infrastructure.
• Malaria in the East African highlands: In the last 30 years, warmer temperatures have also created more favourable conditions for mosquito populations in the region and therefore for transmission of malaria.
• Epidemics of cholera in Bangladesh: They are closely linked to flooding and unsafe water.

These trends and events cannot be attributed solely to climate change but they are the types of challenges we expect to become more frequent and intense with climate changes. They will further strain health resources that, in many regions, are already under severe stress.

"Although climate change is a global phenomenon, its consequences will not be evenly distributed," said Dr Chan. "In short, climate change can affect problems that are already huge, largely concentrated in the developing world, and difficult to control."

To address the health effects of climate change, WHO is coordinating and supporting research and assessment on the most effective measures to protect health from climate change, particularly for vulnerable populations such as women and children in developing countries, and is advising Member States on the necessary adaptive changes to their health systems to protect their populations.

WHO and its partners -- including the UN Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the UN World Meteorological Organization -- are devising a workplan and research agenda to get better estimates of the scale and nature of health vulnerability and to identify strategies and tools for health protection. WHO recognizes the urgent need to support countries in devising ways to cope. Better systems for surveillance and forecasting, and stronger basic health services, can offer health protection. WHO will be working closely with its Member States in coming years to develop effective means of adapting to a changing climate and reducing its effects on human health.

"Through its own actions and its support to Member States," said Dr Chan, "WHO is committed to do everything it can to ensure all is done to protect human health from climate change."